Stellar Collision

Chapter 25

The Doctor was looking all around them now with the Sonic Screwdriver/flashlight.

"So do we think it's just the ship or Arc himself?" Dayle whispered, suddenly very cold.

"I think that... there! Across the clearing in the other side of the woods. Can you see that metal object?" Dayle's heart was racing as she looked where the flashlight's beam was pointing. Could that be the spaceship?

The Doctor was already walking slowly in that direction. Dayle followed, shivering both from the cold and fear. But seriously. Why can't I just make normal friends?

Once in the woods, the Doctor crouch walked to make himself less visible. Dayle followed suit.

The ship had clearly crashed to earth, they discovered as they followed a trail of debris deeper into the woods. The craft itself was stuck about five feet from the ground in a canopy of bent and broken branches.

Adrenaline had Dayle jacked up and ready to run at the slightest movement anywhere near the crashed ship. The Doctor approached cautiously. He now used his Sonic to scan the wreckage, read the results and stood up a bit straighter.

"No life signs there. Looks too damaged to even climb inside." He narrowed his eyes, once again using the Sonic as a flashlight to peek in the interior of the wreck. He sighed and looked thoroughly disappointed.

"I rather doubt we are going to find anything of use here. Frankly I'm surprised he survived the crash at all. He must have been terribly wounded."

Secretly relieved, Dayle bent and picked up a piece of crumpled metal. She felt a tickle at the back of her mind when she made contact. She dropped the object.

"Whoa." she exclaimed.

The Doctor looked over at her curiously. "What is it Dayle?"

"That piece of metal I picked up. It's... well... it's like it's charged with psychic energy."

The Doctor bent and examined the metal. He pocketed the small piece of debris and brushed his hands off. "Yes, I expect it would be. All of Tregannon technology is made from minerals with telepathic properties. They use psionic energy for nearly everything. But especially as a weapon."

They left the crash site and headed back through the woods.

Dayle suddenly had an interesting thought. "Do you suppose other me has the Focusing Amplifier in this universe?"

The Doctor shrugged as he led the way through the trees. "Well, it seems that your lives were identical up until the birth of Savannah. That appears to be the decision that caused a different outcome. I'd say it's likely that Dayle B has your lucky rock. Though since she has no psychic abilities, for her it would be just that- a rock."

They had come back to the clearing and stopped. Dayle walked up the country road a bit.

The Doctor scratched his head. "Dayle, are you sure you've not been to this area back in your universe? Even as a child or something?"

Dayle looked at him seriously. "That's just what I was trying to tell you. This road doesn't exist in my universe. All of these woods? They were cleared out years ago, when my mom was a kid. A medical center was built on top of all of it."

Now the Doctor looked truly troubled. "How can that be? How could you know about a road that only exists in a parallel universe? With our telepathic connection, you could have only experienced what I was experiencing here and I've certainly never been to this place until now."